Mail-bag catching and delivering apparatus.



J. L. SGHLEHR & PATTERSOII. MAIL BAG OATGHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAB..16,1911.

Patented 0011.31, 1911.

SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PLANOGRAPH CD" WASH J. L. SGHLEHR (K; W. PATTERSON. MAIL BAG GATGHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16,1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A i a I fitter/wee J. L. SGHLEHR & W. PATTERSON. MAIL BAG OATOHING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.16,1911.

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i MI m 2 Qwvewlioz QZZ. JC ZZ 6/1? J44 Pa 5562 0 012 A A MOM A Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. SGHLEHR AND WALTER PATTERSON, 0F MANTADOR, NORTH DAKOTA.

MAIL-BAG CATCI-IING AND DELIVERING APPARATUS.

I '0 all whom it-may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN L. SOHLEHR and VALTER PATTERSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Mantador, in the county of Richland and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catching and Delivering Apparatus; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in mail bag catching and delivering apparatus.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved construction and arrangement of mail bag holding mechanism whereby the mail bags may be simultaneously delivered to and taken from a fast moving train and whereby the bag taken from the train will be automatically inclosed and locked in a suitable casing and thus protected from the weather and from being tampered with.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side View of our improved mail bag catching and delivering apparatus showing the manner in which the bags are taken from and delivered to a car. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the apparatus and a plan view of a portion of a car showing the position of the parts immediately before the car reaches the apparatus; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the position of the parts after the car has passed and has taken and delivered a bag; Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the apparatus showing the arrangement of the parts for supporting a bag in position to be taken from an approaching car and for receiving the bag from the supporting mechanism of the car; Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional View of the same; Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the position of the parts after the bag has been taken from the apparatus and the latter has taken a bag from the bag supporting mechanism of the car; Fig. 7 is a front view of the apparatus with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4:; Fig. 8 is a detail view of the bag supporting mechanism of the car. Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view of the outer Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 16, 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911-.

Serial No. 614,891.

casing showing the construction of the locking mechanism for the inner casing.

Our improved bag catching and delivering apparatus comprises an outer cylindrical casing 1, which is arranged adjacent to the side of a car track and supported at a suitable elevation upon a supporting frame 2. In the upper portion of the front side of the casing is formed an opening 3 and in the rear side of the casing is formed an opening 4 which is normally closed by a hinge door 5 provided with means whereby the same may be securely locked in closed position.

Revolubly mounted in the casing ,1 is a centrally disposed shaft 6 on which is sediameter than the casing 1 in which said inner casing is adapted to freely revolve. In one side of the casing 7 is formed an opening 8 which extends from the top to the bottom of the casing andcorresponds in width to the opening 3 in the outer casing.

Secured to the upper portion of the shaft 6 are upper and lower bag holding arms 9 and 10. The upper arm 9 is preferably secured at its outer portion to the inner side of the top of the casing as shown. The lower arm 10 is preferably formed of spring metal and said arms have on their outer ends bag engaging fingers 11 which are slightly curved in opposite directions and are adaptthe opposite ends of the mail bags. When the. arms are thus engaged with the bag the spring pressure of the lower arm 10 will keep the bag stretched tight whereby the same may be readily engaged by the catch ing mechanism of a passing mail car and taken from the supporting arms.

car at the same time that the car takes the bag from the arms 9 and 10, we provide a bag catching mechanism comprising a pair of diverging arms 12 which are secured to the shaft 6 in any suitable manner, said arms being shown in the present instance as being formed integral or-in one piece and inserted throughan aperture 13 formed in the shaft. The outer diverging ends of the arms 12 are bent inwardly and thence outwardly to form oppositely opening bag catching hooks 14, the inner ends of which are preferably'secured together by a link or binding wire 15. By constructing the hooks 14 to open in opposite directions, a bag may be taken from the supporting mechanism of cured an inner cylindrical casing 7 of less ed to be engaged with the rings or loops on In order to catch the bag from the passing the car when passing in either direction. The arms 12 are suitably supported and braced attheir outer ends by diagonally arranged brace rods 16 which are connected at their upper ends to the upper portions of the casing 7 and at their lower ends to the lower portions of the casing as shown.

When the catching mechanism of the car comes into engagement with the bag in the casing 7 and the bag catching hooks 14 engage the bag carried by the car, the impact or force of the engagement of these parts will swing or revolve the casing around in the outer casing 1 until the opening 8 in the inner casing is at the rear side of the outer casing and is thus covered by said outer side of the casing 1, while the opening in said outer casing is covered by the closed side of the casing 7 as clearly shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. l/Vhen swung around in this position the bag taken by the hooks 14 in the casing 7 will be inclosed in the casings 1 and 7 and will thus be perfectly protected from the weather and in order to prevent the bag from being tampered with, we provide a suitable automatic locking mechanism whereby, when the inner casing 7 is swung around in the manner described the same will be fastened. The locking mechanism for thus fastening the casing 7 comprises a spring projected bolt 17 which is suitably arranged in the rear side of the outer casing and is adapted to be engaged by a keeper 18 on the inner casing and comprising a block having in its outer side midway between its ends, a locking notch or recess 19 from which the outer surface of the block is beveled or inclined toward its opposite ends as shown. WVhen the casing 7 is swung around in one direction or the other one of the beveled surfaces of the block will be brought into engagement with the head of the bolt 17 thus retracting the same against the pressure of the spring thereon until the notch 19 comes opposite to the head of the bolt whereupon the spring will force said head into the notch and thus lock the casing against further turning in either direction. WVhen thus closed it is necessary to remove the bag from the casing through the door 5 in the rear side of the outer casing and when the door 5 is open access may be had to the bolt 17 for the purpose of retracting the same and again swinging the inner casing 7 around to an open or operative position.

The bag catching mechanism of the car may be of any suitable construction and is preferably in the form of a pivoted arm or hook 20 adapted to be swung out in position to take the bag from the arms 9 and 10.

The bag supporting or holding mechanism for the car preferably comprises a pair of spring arms 21 which are connected at their inner ends to a bearing sleeve 22 mounted on a suitable supporting shaft 23 secured to the side of the car adjacent to the side of the door therein, said sleeve having also formed thereon an inwardly extending handle portion 24 whereby the arms 21 may be swung outwardly and inwardly to operative and inoperative positions. When swung outwardly the outer ends of the arms will support the bag in position to be caught by the hooks 14 of the bag catching mechanism in the casing 7 and when thus caught will be inclosed in the casings 1 and 7 in the manner described.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the inven tion will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A bag catching and delivering mechanism comprising an outer suitably supported casing having formed in one side a bag receiving and delivering opening, an inner casing revolubly mounted in said outer casing, means to support the bag in said inner casing in position to be taken by the catching mechanism of a passing car, and means in said casing to catch a bag from the supporting mechanism of the car.

2. A bag catching and delivering appa ratus comprising an outer suitably supported casing having formed in one side a bag delivering and receiving opening, and in its opposite side a discharge opening, a door adapted to normally close said discharge opening, an inner casing revolubly mounted in said outer casing, upper and lower bag holding arms arranged in said inner casing and adapted to support a bag in posit-ion to be taken by the catching mechanism of a passing car, a bag catching mechanism arranged in said inner casing and adapted to catch a bag from the bag delivering mechanism of the car, and means to fasten said inner casing in operative and inoperative positions.

3. A bag catching and delivering apparatus comprising a supporting frame, an outer casing arranged thereon, said casing having formed in one side a bag delivering and receiving opening and in its opposite side a discharge opening, a door adapted to close said opening, means whereby said door is locked, a shaft revolubly mounted in said outer casing, an inner casing fixedly mounted on said shaft and having in one side a bag receiving and delivering opening, upper and lower bag supporting arms secured to said shaft and adapted to hold a bag in position to be taken by the catching mechanism of a passing car, bag catching arms secured to said shaft, bag catching hooks formed on the outer ends of said arms whereby a bag may be taken from the delivering mechanism of a car passing in either direction, means whereby said arms are braced, a locking mechanism arranged in said outer casing and adapted to lock said inner casing in an inoperative position after a bag has been taken by the bag receiving mechanism of said casing and the latter swung around by the force applied thereto in taking and delivering the bags.

4. A bag catching and delivering mechanism comprising an outer casing having formed in one side a receiving and delivering opening and in its opposite side a discharge opening, a door to close said discharge opening, an inner casing revolubly mounted in said outer casing, said inner casing having formed in one side a delivering and receiving opening and being adapted to be swung around by the force applied thereto in the operation of taking and deliv'ering the bags whereby the openings in said inner and outer casing are closed, a spring projected locking bolt arranged in said outer casing, a locking block carried by said inner casing, said block having therein a catch adapted to receive the head of said spring projected bolt when the inner casing is swung around to an inoperative or closed. position, means to support a bag in position to be taken by the catching mechanism of a passing car and means to simultaneously catch the bag from the delivering mechanism of the car.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN L. SGHLEHR. WVALTER PATTERSON. WVitnesses:

S. N. MITCHELL, H. J. HAEW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

